


The Fake Out

by Mischeivious_lil_kitsune



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 1987), DuckTales (Cartoon 2017), DuckTales (Cartoon 2017) RPF
Genre: Eventual Romance, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, One-Sided Attraction, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-04
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-05-02 01:20:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14533584
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mischeivious_lil_kitsune/pseuds/Mischeivious_lil_kitsune
Summary: Much to Magica's dismay, it's that time of the year where her Granny and her infatuated childhood friend Rosolio come to visit her. It was always a pain for them to come, but lately, it irritates her more since Granny has been urging her to get serious with her childhood friend. Magica wants to be done with this problem once and for all, why not have someone pose as her fake boyfriend to get both her infatuated friend and grandmother off her back. And by coincidence, a certain Gander might be willing to help her out. But it's not enough to just say this Gander is her boyfriend, she needs to prove it, by going on a bunch of romantic dates while getting help from the people she least expects to fake out her Granny and infatuated childhood friend.





	1. Prologue: Childhood

**Author's Note:**

> Don't worry, this will go into Magicstone, but first a prologue of the magical childhood friends.
> 
> Also thanks to Steph for encouraging me to finally start writing this fanfic. It's been a long time since I did fanfiction, it was fun to get back into it again.

20 Years Ago

It was a warm, calm day in the forest. There was a breeze that blew through that created the rustling sound of the leaves. The wildlife and mythical creatures are just going about their daily lives in this forest.

ZAP - 

“Come back here bell shrub!” a high young girl’s voice yelled.

Well until this interruption, wildlife, and mythical creatures evacuated the area immediately to escape whatever was creating this disruption.

“You can’t run chocolate boy!” yelled another girl’s voice.

“Can you stop running after me! Just leave me alone!” yelled a little boy’s voice. The boy pant and ran while he clutched something close to his chest. It was a small and stout duckling with black hair. He carried his short legs as fast he could. Not long behind him were two other girls, one was a pig girl with yellow pigtails, the other was white chicken chasing after the young duckling.

The boy kept running, making turns to get the other kids off his trail. He kept turning his head to check if they were behind him. But that led to him tripping on a root of a tree, he was quick to realize this and made sure he landed on his back when he fell. He closed his eyes and braced for impact, the rough debris on the ground hurt a bit, but not much. He winced in pain and opened his eyes. To his dismay, it was the pig and chicken stand above him, the poor boy was frightened at the sight of them.

The chicken girl how had a branch pointed at the young duckling’s face. “Finally! Now hand it over!”

“No, I can’t.” The little boy was shivering in fear.

“Why not? If you don’t we’ll turn you into an actual chocolate filled candy and eat you up!” said the pig girl.

“I- I- I rather be t-turned into candy then give you two what you want.” stammered the boy.

“If that’s so then let’s turn him into candy.” said the pig girl, her chicken friend nodded. The pig girl picked up a tree branch on the ground and pointed it a the boy.

“Treelus mos poxus oxus dolect! Turn this fat stout duck into a piece of chocola-” The girls were cut off by a flock of ominous ravens that flew into them, the girls screamed and interrupted their spell casting.

“That’s what you two meanies get for hurting Rosolio!” yelled a young female duckling with short black hair.

The chicken girl cowering on the ground and trying to protect herself from the ravens. “Ugh, it’s Magic-yuck!

The pig girl who’s on the ground and trying to swat away the raven familiars. “Ew, I should’ve known something yucky came this way.”

“Ugh! Make this stop!” screamed the chicken girl.

“I’ll stop if you promise not to hurt Rosolio and you leave.”

“Fine, fine! Just make it stop!” screamed the pig girl who’s still trying to swat the ravens. Magica ordered her raven familiars to stop harassing the two girls and sent them to roost on the tree branches. The pig girl and chicken girl got up, the ravens didn’t leave a scratch on them, there was only dirt on their clothes and body.

The chicken girl sneered “Let’s get out of here. Nothing good comes from hanging out with a witch who can’t do proper magic.” 

“Yeah, hanging with goody two-shoes witches can rub their weakness on you.” laughed the pig girl. The kids started laughing, Magica’s anger was about to blow, but she remembered her Granny’s teaching, best to take anger and put it to use. Magica raised up her hand and the raven familiars flew to her above her head. At first, it looked like a big black blob, but it kept getting bigger and bigger until the all the raven familiars formed into one huge raven that it cast a shadow over all the kids. The girls stopped laughing, started shaking and hugging each other.

“I’m not weak for being too good!” yelled Magica. “I’ll show you two! And I’ll show you what happens when you hurt friend!” Magica put down her raised hand and points to the two cowering girls. “ NOW GET THEM MY PRETTIES!”

With that command combined huge raven start swooping down towards the two small girls. The girls held each other while they ran and scream into the forest and disappear. When the combined huge raven started to fade into the forest as it flew after the girls. Magica breathed a sigh of relief and saw Rosolio still on the floor in a fetal position with his hands to his chest. She quickly ran to check on him.

“Rosolio are you okay? The next time I see them I’ll get th-” 

“I’m okay.” Rosolio said in a low voice. Magica noticed the scratches and dirt on him, especially on his hands that are cupped together.

“Rosolio, what is wrong with your hands?” asked Magica.

“Oh, that’s why I was running away from those two.” replied Rosolio. He opened his hand and revealed a tiny golem shaking in a fetal position. “Those girls made this golem and was going to order him around and do bad things, I got in the middle and ordered him to think for himself and decided he didn’t want to work for those girls anymore. He came to me, but they thought I stole him and started chasing after me.” Rosolio looked at the scared golem. “It’s okay now, they’re gone.” he said. The golem stopped shaking and got out of a fetal position and got up. 

“Magica, how did you get so powerful to summon a bunch of familiars like that? I thought you had a hard time summoning familiars.” asked Rosolio.

“Oh, it was only the raven I helped saved the other day. When I was running after you and those meanies, he flew to me and said he was willing to help me to scare those meanies away.”

“I was wondering why I wasn’t sneezing with all those ravens there.” Rosolio said it was a relief to him that his raven allergy didn’t act up. Magica we took out a crystal from her dress pocket and showed it to Rosolio.

“I just stole this crystal from Granny. It makes it so I can create a bunch of raven familiars copies, so they’re only an illusion.” Magica started laughing, “I bet those two are wetting themselves even though there’s no big huge raven running after them.”

“Wow Magica, you’re amazing. Even though you weren’t born with magic skills, you were able to beat those meanies and save me. You’re amazing!” Rosolio said happily with his face beaming, then slowly turned down his face, “Unlike me, I have lots of magic but I can’t use them right. I’ll never be a witch.” Magica looked sad at her young friend, but she quickly shook off her sadness.

“You have what it takes to be a witch, you just need some help. So I’ll help you Rosolio! Besides if I can do it, you definitely can!” Magica said confidently.

“R-r-really?” Rosolio said.

“Of course, we’re friends after all!” Magica said happily with a smile. With that, Rosolio’s fears and shame melted away, he was happy to have a friend to help support him.

 

-Rosolio's name actually means a sweet cordial made in Italy from alcohol, raisins, sugar, rose petals, cloves, and cinnamon. Which is similar to the chocolate liqueur candies. So that's why the girls want to turn him into chocolate filled candy.

-Rosolio's last name Rhododendron means a shrub with bell-shaped flowers, which is another one of the names the girls call him.

-Rosolio is also allergic to ravens, from the comic "Magica De Spell and The Great Rock of Power-Plus!"

Don't worry, this will go into Magicstone, but first a prologue of the magical childhood friends.

Also thanks to Steph for encouraging me to finally start writing this fanfic. It's been a long time since I did fanfiction, it was fun to get back into it again.

Much to Magica's dismay, it is that time of the year where her Granny and her infatuated childhood friend Rosolio come to visit her. It was always a pain for them to come, but lately, it irritates her more since Granny has been urging her to get married already. Then it would come with Rosolio trying to ask her out, only for Magica to turn him down. But this time, Rosolio is trying to be serious and proposed to her. With Granny's pressuring Magica to get married and allowing Rosolio's proposal, she's in a tight spot. She wants to be done with this problem once and for all, they only visit once a year, why not have someone pose as her fake boyfriend to get both her infatuated friend and grandmother off her back. And what a coincidence that the fake boyfriend happens to be a certain Gander. But it's not enough to just say this Gander is her boyfriend, she needs to prove it, by going on a bunch of romantic dates with her fake boyfriend, while taking advice from a certain green duckling who's seen one too many romance movies, and trying to deal with an infatuated foolish childhood friend. What can possibly go wrong?


	2. Reminder: Doomsday

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Magica is reminiscing about the old days, she's not paying attention what day it is for her. With the impending doomsday, Ratface and Lena will help remind Magica about her situation, and try to help her out of it.

Present Day

It was a warm day, and the resident witch of Mt. Vesuvius sends her raven familiar on an errand, he goes off and flies into the sky, but the shadow he casted looked like a big huge raven. It reminded her of the time when she was young and first used her familiar to save her childhood friend. It’s been a while since Magica remembered that old memory, but things change. She forgot that she did care about him at one point. Back then, he was nice, he needed protection and help. Later on, he became so much of a nuisance to her. How did it come to it?

“Auntie?”

When did he become such a nuisance? It had to be after childhood years.

“Aunt Magica?”

Ah yes, probably around the time when they were tweens and teens and going through puberty. That was a rough time, but shouldn’t he grow out of it already? He’s still pining for her when they’re adults, like an infatuated puppy, he never stopped.

“Aunt Magica!” Magica jumped at the sudden noise, in front of her stood her a young duckling, wearing a striped sweater over her button-down shirt, with pink bangs, wearing an amulet, and her arms folded in front of her. Magica did not like the tone and attitude her niece was giving off.

“Lena, how many times I told you to focus on your practice and that it’s rude to yell to get a person’s attention?” She’s been taking her on as an apprentice and caring for her niece since the incident that happened with her father, well - Magica’s brother but that is a story to tell for another time. Taking care of her niece wasn’t always smooth.

“Too many times,” Magica was trying her niece’s patience, but she tried her best to not resort to anger, but it was hard to hide the annoyance in her tone. “and I’ve been trying to get your attention for a while to remind you about-” Magica didn’t like her niece’s reply.

“Remind me about how you need to levitate fifty pounds of soil outside to my herb garden?” Magica said with a smirk. “How thoughtful of my dear niece to remind me. And it’ll help with your levitation practice, which you’ve been slacking on lately.” Her niece understandably was a bit annoyed.

“But Aunt Magica you told me earlier to-”

“Yes, I told you earlier about the garden that needs tending to,” With the wave of her finger, she opened the front door with her magic. “Now, go. And don’t dump all the soil on the plants like last time.” Lena rolled her eyes, she knew when she had to yield when her aunt wouldn’t listen to her.

“Don’t say I didn’t try to remind you.” Lena rolled her eyes and walked to the door but stopped as soon as she saw a raven familiar carrying a few branches in his beak flying to the front door. “Hey, Ratface.” The raven familiar dropped the branches he was holding.

“She didn’t listen, did she?” Ratface asked in a defeated voice.

“Nope.” Lena was tired of trying to remind her aunt. Ratface shook his head and flew towards his mistress. She started to pick up the branches and watched to see how much better could the familiar catch her aunt’s attention.

“Oh Ratface, back already? Where are the branches I was asking for?” asked Magica who was hunched over a table reading through a recipe for potions.

“Mistress, how come you haven’t started preparing?” asked Ratface.

“I have been preparing this potion, and how come you don’t have the branches I asked you for?” asked Magica. She then spotted her niece watching from the doorway holding the branches. “Oh, you got them. Thank you Lena.” she levitated the branches into her bubbling cauldron. “Now to put this on a low simmer for a week.”

Ratface was annoyed, he did his best to look out for his mistress, but sometimes she was the own cause of her demise. But not this time, she made him and Lena vow to not let this happen again last year.

“Mistress I need to-”

“I’m busy. Ratface, darling, pass me a ladle.”

“But mistress I need to-”

“And I need to at least stir this once so it doesn’t get the weird film on top. So if you could Ratface?”

“But Aunt Magica we’re trying to-”

“My dear niece, have you tried practicing your levitation yet? You won’t get better if you keep standing around there.” Magica held her hand out waiting standing over her cauldron. Lena had enough of this, if she didn’t tell her aunt now, she won’t hear the end of it.

“Fine then Aunt Magica. I’ll practice my levitation.” Lena muttered under her breath. She looked around the living room and saw the page-a-day calendar, which she considered only old people used. She focused on it and concentrated her powers, using the amulet to channel her magic to the calendar. She tried her best to pull the calendar off, but it was stuck on the wall.

Lena channeled more energy into it, the calendar finally started to wiggle from the wall. Now if she had a little bit more power she can just levitate it in front of her aunt’s face - SNAP - the calendar was finally off the wall and was levitating towards the witch. But at the speed of what seemed to be thirty-five miles per hour. The young witch felt time stopped and realized the error she done, her aunt was going to let her have it if she didn’t stop that runaway levitating calendar. She wants to stop it, but she’s still a novice, it’d be impossible. The raven familiar turned his head and saw the calendar fling towards his mistress, it was too late to do anything.

BAM -

The calendar hit the witch with force to lose her balance for a bit, but not fall. She didn’t realize how much half a year left could hurt her head. Magica took the calendar off her face and shot a look at her niece that could scare the color out of her dyed pink bangs.

“LENA MINIMA DE SPELL!” She definitely had enough anger to be angry for half a year. “How dare you!? After all, I-” Ratface flew in front of Magica’s face.

“Mistress! Calm down!” Ratface tried de-escalating the situation. “She’s been trying to tell you, as I’ve been, look at today’s date!” Magica saw her niece wide-eyed knowing she’s in trouble and her familiar with a worried look on his face, she decided to hold in her rage for now. She picked up the calendar and saw the date. The seventeenth, what was it about this date that her niece and familiar were trying to tell her about. She thought for a bit and it hit her, she went wide-eye, her heart started racing, her breathing became fast and uneven. Panic was about to overwhelm her.

“The seventeenth!? It’s doomsday!” the witch yelled. “We need to find my broom and make tracks!” she started running around the hut pushing away piles of books to look for her way out of what’s to come.

“Took her awhile to remind her.” Lena sighed with relief and pulled out her smartphone. Ratface landed on her shoulder and gave a silent nod. “Honestly, she wouldn’t have this much trouble if she just got a smartphone and caught up with the rest of us.”

“If she stopped using her money on plane tickets to Duckburg for a while, she could afford one.” Ratface said and turned his head to look at Lena’s smartphone screen.

“It’s too soon, how did this happen so quickly?!” Magica thought. She was turning her house upside down and making it messier than it was before until she noticed her niece and familiar busy on the smartphone.

“What are you two doing?! If you don’t help me it’ll be too late!” yelled Magica.

“It already is Aunt Magica, they’re already in Mt. Vesuvius according to Rosolio’s chirp on Chirper.” Lena didn’t make eye contact and kept her head glued to her phone screen swiping up. It didn’t help Magica’s situation and she could feel anger swelling up along with her panic and anxiety.

“Why didn’t the two of you warn me!?” yelled Magica. The raven familiar lifted his face and turned to the witch.

“Mistress, we’ve been warning you for a week. But you kept ignoring and interrupting us.” Ratface said in the frankest way possible. His mistress needed to learn that she still needed to slow down and listen to others sometimes. And hopefully, this situation will be enough for her to remember this lesson.

“Yeah, if you just got a smartphone, it would’ve warned you better than we tried to.” Lena said, refreshing the app. “Annnd Uncle Rosolio just chirped ‘So psyched to see my darling again!’ heart emoji, heart emoji, heart emoji, heart emoji, #love.’” Magica groaned.

“Lena, he is not your uncle. He will never be your uncle. Do not call Rosolio uncle when he gets here. It’ll encourage him and Granny.”

“Mistress,” Ratface said. “you do know that Granny won’t stop at anything until you’re married to Rosolio. She’s been pushing you two together since were kids.” Magica let out an aggravated sigh and stop looking frantically for her broom, she slowed down and took in her raven familiar’s truth, as much as she hates hearing it.

“I know, I just wish she would stop,” Magica said resuming to picking up objects and looking for her broom at a calmer pace. “I used to be able to put up with it, but it’s been getting tiring the last few visits.”

“Yeah,” Lena chimed in “and Granny is going to be relentless since you’re old now, that no one else will be willing to date you besides uncle Rosolio.” Magica was annoyed by her niece’s comment.

“You’re a little brat. I can still date anyone my age.” Magica muttered under her breath. Lena rolled her eyes and kept her eyes glued to the screen. “But you both have a point,” she sighed. “eventually granny will guilt me with the ‘When are you going to give me grandchildren?’ talk. and I am not ready to deal with that yet.” She has stood her ground against Granny before on her love life, but it’s hard to turn down a loved one who raised you like a mother to turn down grandkids.

Ever since Magica’s mom died, Granny took care of the De Spell family and raised her to be the witch she is today. Magica owes a lot to her Granny, but not her love life. At one point Magica did listen to Granny’s advice until it came to her love life. To which she described that finding a man and getting married is one goal Magica needed to achieve in life. At one point, Magica entertained that though, but only for a second, in the end, she knew it was up to herself on what she wants to do, and her main goal was to get Scrooge’s number one dime.

Of course, she had a life outside of that main goal and dated before, but didn’t consider most of them to be serious. Most of the time her relationships would end and she would return to being single. Which she doesn’t mind at the moment since it’s more important to figure out her schemes for the dime. She’ll deal with her love life and family future prospects later.

“But,” Magica said as she placed her arm underneath the couch looking for her broom. “out of the people in the world, I wouldn’t settle down for Rosolio.” After not feeling for straw or a wooden stick she took out her arm that looked gray, fuzzy, and full of dust bunnies that grossed Magica out. Lena laughed silently at the sight, but it didn’t go unnoticed by her aunt who shot her a glare.

“Anyways Aunt Magica,” hoping to distract her aunt’s anger away from her. “If you want Uncle Rosolio off your case,” which Magica groaned at, Lena ignored the groan an continued on in a frank tone “you could just lie and say you have a boyfriend. Granny will be happy you have someone in your love life and Uncle Rosolio will be so heartbroken, hate you, and eventually move on.” Magica thought about it but shook her head.

“That won’t work unless I have a physical boyfriend in front of them.”

“Then tell them he’s a long distance boyfriend and you’re both making it work.”

“The other young mistress has a good idea.” Ratface chimed in. “Once we tell them that, we can go and look for someone to be your fake boyfriend just for the time they’re in town.” Magica just stood thinking about her niece’s idea for a bit.

“Well Lena,” Lena looked up at her Aunt. “I think this is a ridiculous idea. And ugh-I gives up on trying to find my broom.”

“Oh, I found your broom, Aunt Magica.” Lena said still looking at her smartphone.

“What?!” Magica yelled. “How did you- no- more importantly, where is it!?”

“According to the ‘Find My Broom’ app, it’s outside the hut.” Lena said without taking her face off the screen.

“Why couldn’t you have told me that?” Magica couldn’t hide her anger with this statement.

“Why didn’t you listen to me for the past few months telling you to save up to buy a smartphone and catch up with the rest of us, instead of spending it on Duckburg plane tickets?” Lena said back, this time looking up from her smartphone, looking at her aunt straight in the eyes. There was tension between the two intergenerational witches. Magica knew deep down her niece had a point, but being who she is, would be way too proud to admit she was wrong.

“I will deal with that attitude of yours later. I’m gonna find my broom and when I do we will fly out of here in the opposite direction they’re coming from, and they’ll have to deal with that I missing for the time being.” Magica said as she went to the door. “I’m Magica De Spell!” she placed her hand on the doorknob and opened the door, “And I do what I wa-”

“There’s my beautiful bambina!”

“Oh, dahhhhhrrrling! Your little Rosolio-poo is baaaack!”

Magica’s heart stopped. It was too late, doomsday came, in the form of an older, but still good hippie-looking duck with blonde curly hair in a green long-sleeved dress and in the form of a tall and heavy set duck shaped like a bell, with black hair dressed up in a formal light blue button-down shirt, red tie, and magenta blazer with the sleeves rolled up. And just like every year, she was ill-equipped to deal with these natural disasters. She stood there in shock that they were already here, her plans to fly away went out the window.

“Is this any way to greet your relative?” Granny said putting her hands on her hips, waiting for Magica. Magica had to snap back to reality.

“Oh no, sorry Granny, how are you?” Magica greeted Granny with a hug and kiss. She can still fight this, she’ll stand her ground like she always did. She’s Magica De Spell, she does whatever she wants.

“Still keeping busy in the workshop I see,” Granny said and took a look around the hut. “But it looks, well, like a tornado went through here. You know bambina, you can’t raise your little bambinos in a place like this. Then again, once they’re older they could help around the house.” Magica, Lena, and Ratface were taken off guard by her statement, Granny is quick and she’s on the offensive on nonexistent grandkids.“You do know your childhood sweetheart here is coincidentally still single.” 

Magica cringed at the statement, this was going worse than the last time she came. She turned could practically see hearts floating around the doe-eyed childhood friend, who’s just stammering, like the lovesick fool he is. “B-b-b-ble-lady.” Yep, still a lovesick fool.

Granny went beside Rosolio and whispered to him “This is your chance to court her Rosolio. Just keep pushing through.” Rosolio started to sweat and his heart was racing as he took out a heart-shaped box full of chocolates and placed it in front of Magica’s face.

“T-th-the-these ar-r-r- fo-for yo-”

Magica pushed down on the box of chocolates and looked at Granny standing next to Rosolio. “No, he’s never been nor will be my sweetheart.” Magica looked up at Rosolio and made eye contact with him. “And no, I won’t accept these chocolates.”

“But I will.” Lena said walked over and grabbed the box of chocolates. “Hi Rosolio. Hi Granny.” she said and walked back to Ratface who was sitting on a windowsill on the other side of the living room in the hut to share her spoils with him. The raven familiar made sure to stay as far away from Rosolio before they have to deal with his raven allergy again. Besides, he had a duty to make sure all those chocolates didn’t go to waste, and will help Lena with getting rid of them.

Rosolio looked a bit down until Granny whispered to him “Don’t worry, she’s just playing hard to get. Remember, nothing is worth it if you don’t work hard for it.” Which boosted his confidence. “Keep trying, you can do this.”

Rosolio reached into his coat pocket. “Oh, the light of my life, please accept these posies I found for you.” he handed her green plants that did not look anything remotely close to a posy, or any flower in this case. Magica rolled her eyes until she saw the green plants in Rosolio’s hand.

“Not my malignant weeds again!” Magica yelled. “ Those take three hundred years to grow!” she grabbed the weeds out of Rosolio’s hand. “I had to pay a high price to find some that would bloom in a few years after you picked it the last time you came!” Out her anger, she stuffs the weeds into his mouth. Rosolio felt a bit defeated with Magica’s reaction.

“I shoodulf kon wif deh dulips.” Rosolio said with the mouthful of malignant weeds in his mouth. Magica grumbled and walked to another part of the living room to try and recollect herself, and write down a reminder to buy malignant weeds again. Granny tapped Rosolio’s shoulder and caught his attention.

“Look at her,” Granny whispered and pointed at Magica. “This isn’t working. We need to go with plan C.” Rosolio was shocked and looked at her. The older blonde witch gave a simple nod that communicated it was okay for her to go with the next plan. She walked over to Magica and tried to calm her down. “Now, now, he’s just trying to be nice.” she said. “Besides, there was a good reason for them to visit today.”

“Oh really?” Magica said as she tucked away from the reminder note to buy another weed in her pocket. “Just not to invade my life again for a few days.”

“Oh no, just only for a week.” Granny said. Rosolio walked up to them, now sweating profusely than before. “Besides Rosolio has something to ask you.” she said and elbowed him. Rosolio realized this was his last chance to impress Magica, it was now or never. He gets down on one knee, and it caught everyone off guard. Lena and Ratface spit out the chocolates in disbelief. Magica’s eyes were going wide and couldn’t believe this was happening.

“Ma-ma-magica my sweetheart,” Rosolio stammered.

Yeah, it was happening. And Magica was not liking any of it.

“Since we were kids I knew we are to spend the rest of our lives together.” Rosolio reached into another coat pocket and took out a small, red, velvet, heart-shaped box. He opened the box to reveal a huge diamond ring, there were diamonds encrusted on the band of the ring, and in the center, there was a big diamond surrounded by smaller diamonds. “So will you please become Magica Rhododendron?” he asked sweetly with the biggest smile on his face.

There was silence at the hut. Granny had her hands clasped together looking at Magica’s reaction. And her reaction, as well, more of shock, to the point where Magica froze. This was it, they weren’t playing anymore, this is serious business. She could imagine how much worse her life can turn, She would be miserable living with Rosolio, not being able to keep her raven familiar in their house due to Rosolio’s allergies, and having children with him. No, Magica would not have that as her fate. She’s Magica De Spell, she will fight this however she can.

Magica cleared her throat. “Th-tha-that’s sweet of you Rosolio,” she pushed away from the ring box, with Rosolio still sweating and smiling. “But my boyfriend wouldn’t like that.”

“Wait! Boyfriend!?” Granny and Rosolio screamed. Rosolio’s face fell into shock, then into sadness. Granny’s face fell into shock, but then into anger.

Lena and Ratface were shocked, that turned into awe. Lena quickly opened a text app and types in “Wow, I didn’t think she would do it :O” and showed it to Ratface who nodded.

“Yes, my long-term boyfriend. He’s also visiting this week. Which reminds me, I need to go and pick him up at the-”

“Bambina, a long-term boyfriend? How come we never heard of him until now?”

“Only because he lives in another country far away.”

“He’s also a long distance relationship too? Bambina that is a lot of work to add along with what you’re doing here.” Granny was not going to give up that easily, just because a boyfriend got introduced into the picture. She will make sure her bambina realize that isn’t the best option for her.

“We make it work.” Magica won’t give up that easily, she’s ambitious, reckless, and stubborn. Combine three of those together and you get a formidable witch who will stop at nothing to make sure she won’t end up with a horrible love life. Even if that means she has to answer every single one of her Granny’s interrogative questions.

“With the way things are going, Granny is going to be relentless. lol RIP Auntie” Lena texted and showed to Ratface. He read and gestured her to hold the phone up to his face to respond.

“That will be bad for the mistress. We have to help her :O” 

“I know, but this is more fun to watch >:).” Ratface rolled his eyes, and Lena decided to text more. “Besides, she didn’t listen to us at all, we should let her face her consequences.” 

The raven familiar sighed, and knew there was truth to that statement. He is loyal to his mistress and will support her up no matter what. But his mistress’s flaws was her own recklessness and lack of foresight undid some of her progress. But as his duty as her familiar is to look out for her and this situation was no different. The raven familiar gestured the younger duckling to hold up the phone to him and she obliged.

“True, but it is my duty as her familiar to help her out of tough situations. But I need your help for this one. I know it’s a lot to ask because your history, but please help me. I will make it up to you :<” The younger duckling read the text and pondered for a bit. She and her aunt had a rocky relationship and would find it had to help her out in situations unless she got see her get her comeuppance. But it was hard to say no to Ratface, he was the mediator for all of their fights and would stick up for Lena every time. She knew the raven familiar was trustworthy, he was dependable, and most of all kind to the De Spells for years.

“Fine. I’ll help Aunt Magica, but you OWE me >:T” Ratface read the text and gestured to use the phone one last time.

“Thank you. Don’t worry I’ll help you out too young mistress <3” Lena read the text and felt more confident in helping out her aunt now. She took a look at the way the conversation is going, her aunt needed to leave soon or else she’ll be locked into a long string of Q&A’s from Granny. She went outside of the hut, grabbed the broom, and went up to the two older females who noticed her.

“Aunt Magica! It’s already some time didn’t you have someplace to be?” Lena held up the broom to her reminding her goal right now, to go out and find that fake boyfriend.

“Oh yes! Thank you for that kind reminder, my sweet niece.” Magica grabbed the broom and Lena and went outside, Ratface followed behind them.

“But bambina, I haven’t finished talking to you yet!” Granny followed the group out the door, leaving Rosolio sulking in his place.

“Sorry, Granny and Rosolio! But I have to pick up my boyfriend, I don’t want him to keep waiting too long.” Magica got set up on her broom, her niece sat behind, Ratface rested on Lena’s shoulder. “Oh, by the way, you two can’t stay here, since my boyfriend will stay with me.” Granny’s mouth dropped.

“Wait, what?!” She couldn’t believe what she was hearing from her granddaughter.

“Sorry, Granny gotta go!” And with that, the two started to take off on the broom.

“Bye Granny! Nice seeing you again! Also, thank you for the chocolates Rosolio!” As soon as Lena finished her sentence, Magica kicked her broom into high gear and sped out of there. Lena was caught off guard and almost fell off the broom.

She noticed Ratface was almost left behind and quickly grabbed him and clung to her Aunt’s dress for dear life as they flew into town. They left so fast, the only thing that Granny saw was a cloud trail showing which way the broom went. She sighed, she couldn’t do much about her bambina at the moment. She walked back inside and saw that the big duck still hasn’t moved.

“Don’t worry Rosolio, it’s still part of the game she’s playing.” She went over to Rosolio and put her hand on his back. “She’s playing really hard this time around.”

“Re-re-really?” He asked in a nasally voice, clogged up by the snot buildup from all of his crying.

“Yes really, my dear, you must work hard to win her as your girlfriend, and who’ll eventually become your wife. You need to go up against her boyfriend, and show her on what she’s missing out on.” Granny grabbed a tissue box that was on the ground and handed it over to Rosolio who took a bunch and blew his nose.

“I’ll help you out with winning her over. This is a test of endurance she’s giving you.”

“Okay, Grann.” Rosolio sniffed. “Thank you.”

“Not at all dearie, now let’s go find a hotel.” She’s disappointed in Magica that she already found a boyfriend, but something didn’t feel right about what she said. Granny won’t give up on Rosolio and Magica, this is only the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Adding in two chapters in for the first day, they were originally one but it got too long. But next chapter will get into the meeting we're all waiting for.


	3. The Contract

It’s a sunny day in Naples Italy. There are tourists around with lots of hotels around there. There is a sense of happiness and wonder in the area.

“What do you mean you're all booked? My investors told me that they booked a hotel for me and my family.”

“I’m sorry sir, your name and neither your investors’ name aren't showing up.” the concierge replied.

“Oh blast this place.”

Well mostly. Scrooge McDuck was visibly skulking while his family was mesmerized at the sights of Italy. Huey, Dewey, Louie, and Webby were taking pictures of each other cell phones outside of the hotel. Launchpad and Mrs. Beakley was carrying the luggage, Donald was carrying the most.

“I can’t believe I have to go here for a business trip. I want to explore the ruins of Pompeii.” Scrooge sighed. “I heard there was the most delicious cake in one of the ruins. I was hoping to have a taste of this. But nooo, I have to go to a boring meeting.”

“Sir, you have to show up to that business meeting or else you won’t have money to keep exploring.” Beakley frankly said to Scrooge.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the town, Magica and Lena were walking around with Ratface resting on Lena’s shoulder.

“Ugh, my shoulders and back are killing me,” Magica said. “I think my neck is in pain too, but I can’t tell anymore.”

“It’s because of that old lumpy bed of yours Aunt Magica.” Lena said while looking down at her phone. “Don’t you have enough money by now to buy a new one? It’s been months since you got my new bed.”

“There are no funds at the moment.”

“Oh, that’s right, because you used it for your plane tickets two weeks ago, to get the dime again.” Lena sighs. “Figures.” Magica huffed and rolled her eyes. She’s not in the mood to get into an argument right now, she’ll deal with this conversation next time, since it usually comes up after Magica’s attempt to steal the dime.

“Most of my male witch friends and acquaintances are already in relationships and none of them will agree to act in as my boyfriend.” Magica said. “Nothing is working out so far. I’m sure my family is suspicious and knows I don’t have a boyfriend. Ugh, I should’ve been ambiguous and said I got a girlfriend.”

“But all of your girl friends and ex-girlfriends are already married or broke up with you.” Lena replied. Magica pinched her brows.

“Try not to worry mistress. We still have a day to find your fake boyfriend.” Ratface said.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky.” Lena said.

“I sure hope s-OOF!” Magica bumped into Scrooge.

“Ow, hey watch it!” Scrooge yelled, then he realized it was Magica. “Magica De Spell! I should’ve known you’d come to steal my lucky dime again!” The McDuck family stopped what they’re doing and got into defensive positions and fighting stances.

“Hi, Webby.” Lena waved.

“Hi, Lena!” Webby waved back. “Sorry I can’t run over to say hi and have to be on the offensive.”

“It’s cool. Having a family feud doesn’t help.” Lena replied.

“Hello to you to Scroogey,” Magica said.

“You better not think you could steal the dime with us around.” Beakley made eye contact with her.

“Honestly I should still that dime right now!” Magica’s eyes got big and raised up both of her arms, ready to cast a spell.

“AHEM!” Lena and Ratface cleared their throats loudly to remind Magica the current task at hand. She sighed and folded her arms in her chest. “Unfortunately not right now. I have more pressing matters to attend to.”

“Which is?” Scrooge asked.

“I need to find someone to pose as my boyfriend for a week to get my Granny and an infatuated friend off my back.” Magica sighed.

“What?!” Scrooge and the McDuck family let down their guard.

“It’s a long story, but I haven’t been able to find anyone.” Magica sighs. “I’m desperate at this point. It can literally be anyone.” Scrooge and Magica look at each other for a few silent moments. _“I could choose him,”_ Magica thought. _“he’s the richest duck in Duckburg and tell Granny he’s my boyfriend in order to get the dime.”_

 _“I could use this as an opportunity to learn more about his magical enemy and find out her weaknesses._ ” Scrooge thought. They both stared into each other’s eyes for a few moments.

“Nope.” Both Magica and Scrooge said and shook their heads.

 _“I don’t want to deal with them for a week.”_ both Scrooge and Magica thought.

Magica looks at Launchpad up and down. _“He is quite good looking and she could reason with Granny the reason for the long-distance relationship is because of his job as a pilot.”_ she thought.

“Hey Mr. McD, don’t worry about me crashing the plane. It should be fixed by the time we’re flying out. I can’t wait to drive around Italy, there are so many scenic places to crash!” Launchpad said enthusiastically.

 _“On second thought, he could be Plan B. I rather not date someone who can’t take me on dates because he crashes all the time.”_ Magica thought and turned her sight to Donald.

“I guess you’re not that bad.” Magica said frankly. Donald’s head shot up and dropped the luggage he was carrying. “You taking care of kids might be awkward for my Granny but she’ll have to deal with it.”

“What?” Wait a minute, what makes you think I’ll agree to this?” Donald asked.

“Because I’m sure Scrooge would agree to this decision.”

“Sorry lad, but I have to agree with her on this one. I need Launchpad to drive me around to my business meeting.” Scrooge said. “Your bad luck could rub off on her and backfire if she tries to steal my dime. You could take one for the team.”

“Are you serious? I already did at the Macaw.” Donald folded his arms. Magica summoned a page out of thin air, that had a bunch of words written in cursive on it. At the top, it says “Magic Contract”, Magica levitated it in front of Donald’s and Scrooge’s faces.

“If you’re that worried, we can sign a magic contract. Write down whatever rules or terms you want to agree to. If either of us violates the contract it’ll block the use of our magic powers for about a month. Do we have a deal?” Magica held out a pen waiting for either of them to grab it. Scrooge was about the pen until he hears an engine roaring, getting louder and nearer.

VROOM!

A red blur stopped in front of them, catching everyone off guard. Including Donald who jumped into Magica’s arms.

“Hey, what’s my favorite family doing here?” A baritone voice cried out.

“Oh no, it’s Gladstone.” Magica and Donald said at the same time. Magica realized she was still carrying him in her arms. Donald sheepishly smiled back at her, she frowned and dropped him on the sidewalk. Gladstone got out of his car and looked at his family.

“Gladstone, what are you doing here?” Scrooge asked.

“I just won a trip to this VIP suite in Italy. And this Lamborghini. I decided to take some time to relax abroad.” He said proudly.

“Oh my god, he does nothing but relaxing.” Magica rolled her eyes. “Why did he have to come here of all places?” Gladstone noticed Magica out of the corner of his eye. His happy-go-lucky demeanor quickly went sour.

“Hello, Magica.” He said coldly. “Are you here to steal my Uncle’s dime again?”

“Unfortunately no. I’m here to date your cousin.” Magica replied coldly. Gladstone felt a sting in his heart.

“Why are you dating him? To get close to the dime? You know cuz, you need to be careful around this witch. She’ll manipulate and hypnotize you to get what she needs.”

“Oh don’t be so dramatic.” Magica pointed towards the floating paper. “We were just going to sign a magic contract dictating the rules for this false relationship so I can get my family off my case on why I’m not married yet.”

“Is that even a legit one? There could be loopholes. I mean, it’s not the first time she used a member of this family to get what she wants. Just like Matilda did.” Gladstone shot her the coldest look.

“Oh my god, don’t bring up Matilda.” Magica was exasperated and returned her coldest look. Everyone could feel the tension surrounding them. The kids except for Lena snuck into the lobby after feeling the strain of the tension. Scrooge looked at the two, he realized this wasn’t going to go nowhere unless something broke the tension.

“That’s enough from you two.” Scrooge interrupted their intense staring contest. “I’ll let Magica borrow Donald on the account that she doesn’t attempt the steal the dime forever.”

“That’s not going to work Scroogey, at least a week.”

“A year.”

“3 weeks.”

“A month.”

“Fine, a month.” Scrooge replied and took out the pen. “Let me sign this now, I have a meeting to get to.” Scrooge was about to sign the contract until a Scrooge and Launchpad were snatched away by a hippogriff.

“What the hell?” Gladstone said. “Was that a hippogriff?”

“Odd, why in the world did it get Scrooge?” Magica asked.

“What in the! I’m being kidnapped by a hippogriff!” Scrooge yelled but stayed silent for a few moments. “Wait, this means I get to miss my meeting. I have an actual excuse.” He thought aloud. “HA HA! THIS IS THE LUCKIEST THING TO HAPPEN TO ME!” He yelled so loud everyone could hear him.

“Ugh, figures. He’s been dying to find a way out of that meeting.” Beakley groaned.

“Oh, my luck must’ve rubbed off on him." Gladstone said. Beakley turned to Donald.

“I’m counting on you to watch the kids and defend the family from the witch.” She handed him a magical artifact.

“Wait, what?!” Donald yelled.

“You’re the only one I trust at this point to protect the kids. Don’t worry that should hold her until I get back with Scrooge and Launchpad.” Beakley said. She then turned to Magica and shot her with piercing eyes. “Don’t you dare try anything funny, or else I curse you and your family until the end of time.”

“Ugh fine.” Magica rolled her eyes. “It’s not like my family life could get any worse.” she mumbled. From there Beakley started running after the hippogriff that took Scrooge and Launchpad.

“Are you going to sign the magic contract Donald?” Magica asked impatiently. “I don’t have all day.” Donald grabbed the contract and skimmed through it a bit.

“I’m sorry Magica but I can’t. I have to watch the kids.” Donald said. “Gladstone, could you take my place?”

“What!?” Gladstone and Magica screamed.

“Let me have a minute alone with my cousin.” Gladstone said to Magica. He grabbed Donald and walked into the lobby with him. “Why in the world would you leave me with her?! Don’t you remember how I poured out my heart and soul to you after she used me in our last relationship?”

“Yes, right after I had to grab you from Daisy’s place when you drank too much. You threw up in my car and then blacked out by the time I got you home.” Donald said frankly.

“Oh, right. Sorry about that. I can give you the next car I win.” Gladstone sheepishly grinned.

“You don’t have to, Launchpad was able to clean out the car AC you puked into. The car is fine now.” Donald said. “Besides, someone has to look after the kids.”

“I could look after the kids.” Gladstone said. Donald turned around to see they were sitting on the nearby couch on their phones.

“Hey kids, do you want Uncle Gladstone to babysit you?” he asks.

“No.” Huey replied.

“Nope.” Duey replied.

“Nah.” Webby replied.

“No! Ugh, do we have to?” Louie replied.

“No’s across the board, Gladstone.” Donald said a little bit smugly. Gladstone felt a bit crushed. “Besides, you still owe me a favor after what happened at the Macaw. You called the family to come and hoped that I would take your place at the casino.”

“I didn’t hope you took my place, I was waiting for my luck to get all of us out, and it worked." Gladstone replied.

“Well, your luck could work in your favor this time.” Donald said.

“Don, you know I hate it when my luck is being used.” Gladstone rolled his eyes.

“Look I know you do, but you can dictate whatever you want in this contract.” Donald said and handed him the magic contract. “You’ll be safe this time around and your luck will prevent from Magica trying to pull anything on you. It always worked out for you no matter what, what do you have to lose?” Gladstone stayed quiet and looked down. After a bit, he looked up at his cousin.

“Fine, if you can assure me I’m safe, then I’ll trust you.” Gladstone quickly grabbed the contract. Donald went outside and signaled Magica, Lena, and Ratface to come inside the lobby where Gladstone was writing. It was a few more minutes, but Gladstone was done writing. He handed the contract over to Magica. She read them over while Donald peeked over her shoulder to see what he wrote. It says:

 _I_ _Gladstone Gander_ _will agree to be Magica De Spell's longtime long-distance boyfriend for seven days only under these terms. _

 

  1. _Magica will not steal or attempt to steal the dime for a month by the time this contract is signed_
  2. _That Magica does not manipulate me into loving her, ever again. Even after this ridiculous farce is over._
  3. _Magica cannot use disguises to trick Gladstone ever again._
  4. _No love potions or hypnotizing Gladstone to do Magica’s bidding._
  5. _Magica De Spell can’t use Gladstone Gander ever again to steal the dime._



Magica’s and Donald’s and eyes grew big reading it.

 _“I don’t blame him for writing this, but these are just so specific to that incident. I knew he was lying, saying he was over her.”_ Donald thought.

Magica sighs. “Smart of you to include these terms in your contract Gladstone. Some of these are quite specific, but I can’t blame you for that. I have other ways of getting to Scrooge’s dime besides you.”

“You know, is this still really fair?” Lena asked nonchalantly. “I mean, we’re holding a McDuck family member, wouldn’t it be fair for you all to hold a De Spell family member?”

“Lena what are you doing?!” Magica angrily whispered to her.

“Oh hold on a second, let me add in one more thing.” Gladstone said and started writing and then handed the contract to Magica. There was a new line written that said

  1. __6\. Magica must give another family member or close friend to the McDuck family during the duration of the fake relationship.__



 

“What is this one about?” Magica asked.

“That is thinking ahead.” Gladstone said. “Lena or your familiar will be in Donald’s care while we’re dating.”

“Are you really holding them hostage?”

“Not hostage perse, it’s more like putting in a safety deposit. We won’t harm them in any way, but if I’m not returned back to my family, then your family won’t return back to you. This is just insurance to make sure I’ll come back to them.”

“See, now that’s fair.” Lena said. “Me and Ratface can volunteer as tribute, we’ll stay here for the time being until this is all done.”

“Are you serious Lena?” Magica asked.

“Don’t worry Aunt Magica, I have faith that you won’t keep your ex-boyfriend prisoner for life and not get us back.” Lena smiled. “Just tell Granny and Uncle Rosolio I’m busy having fun with my friends.”

“Ugh fine, I don’t care. Just let me add in my parts in the contract so we can get this over with.” Magica grabbed the pen from Gladstone and furiously wrote down her conditions. After a few minutes, she gives it to Gladstone. On the contract read Magica’s terms and conditions.

 _I_ _Magica De Spell need a fake boyfriend to effectively fool my family and Rosolio. The fake boyfriend  Gladstone Gander must agree to these terms. _

 

  1. __Gladstone must act sincerely as my fake long time long distance boyfriend.__
  2. _Must go on 7 dates, one per day._
  3. _Gladstone must live with Magica for the time being in order to convince her family that he’s her boyfriend._
  4. _Only PDA and flirting when it’s in front of the De Spell family and Rosolio. And if anyone suspects if the De Spell family and Rosolio are nearby._



Gladstone read over the contract, and his eyes grew wide on the last line. “I understand the first three, but why the PDA?” he asked.

“For Italians, it’s normal to shower your partner with public displays of affection. It would be too suspicious for my family if they don’t see you, um...well...” Magica looked away from Gladstone.

Lena interjected. “Hold her hand, be close to her, kiss her on the check, a peck on the lips, and flirt with her.”

“That’s enough Lena!”

“Oh, you also have to call her your _Ciao Carissima._ And probably learn Italian too.”

“Other than that, that’s as far as we’ll go.” Magica says. Gladstone looks over the contract one more time. He lifts his head and looks at the kids who are occupying themselves by playing games with each other on their phones. He turns to Donald and sees his earnest eyes. He sighs and signs his name at the bottom.

“I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this, but only for my family.” Gladstone sighed. Magica signs her name at the bottom of the contract. The contract rolled up and disappeared into gold smoke and zaps.

“Come on let’s get this over with.” Gladstone grabbed his things and walking out of the lobby with Magica.

“Lena, don’t do any mischief when I’m gone. I’ll see you when I’m done with this charade.” Magica said.

“Yes!” Lena said quietly and ran over to Webby, who gave her a big hug.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so glad you’ll be staying over with us! It’s like going to be a big long sleepover!” Webby squealed.

“I now have five kids to look over. This is going to be tiring for one adult to do.” Donald sighed. Ratface landed next to Donald.

“Don’t worry, I can help you out.” Ratface said.

“AH!” Donald jumped. “Wh-what?”

“Besides being a familiar to the De Spell family, I’ve been looking after my mistress’s niece for as long as I could remember. I was pretty much her nanny. We’ll be fine looking after the kids together.” Donald was lost for words that Ratface could talk.

“How much longer to your place? I don’t know if my car will be fine on this dirt road.” Gladstone said.

“Not much longer, I think it should be fine. Besides you can always get a new one.” Magica replied, looking at the scenery on the left side. Her heart was pounding with anticipation. “I really hope this plan works. It better work, I don’t want to be suffering with him for nothing.” The car came to a slow halt.

“Is this it?” He asked pointing to the small hut to the left of him. His heart started pounding. “I knew she didn’t have a big place to live, but he is too small. And so drab. I MISS MY LUXURIOUS HOTEL SUITE!”

“Yes, this is it.” Magica got out and closed the car door. Gladstone got out and started grabbing his luggage. “Don’t worry, it’s not as drab as you think it is.”

“What made you think that?” Gladstone asked.

“After you know, we spent time together, I know you prefer the finer things in life.”

“You still remember that?”

“It’s impossible to forget.” Magica walked to the house and Gladstone followed behind her. Just as they were coming upon the house he saw there were two gardens on opposite sides of Magica’s hut.

“I didn’t know you did gardening,” Gladstone said.

“Oh?”

“They look really nice. And well tended to. Mostly.”

“Mostly?”

“Some of those herbs need pruning. Some of those vegetables look ripe, we should start picking them already.”

“How do you know all of this?”

“I, um-” Gladstone murmured under his breath.

“What was that?”

“I like to garden.” Gladstone said a little bit clearer but still under his breath. “Let’s just get inside so I can put down my stuff.” he said in his normal volume. Magica opened the door and it still looked like the whirlwind of a mess that she made. Except for the corner that had a pile of bunched up tissues.

“Oh my gosh, I forgot about this.” Magica groaned.

“Is this how you live?” Gladstone was about to step back but Magica grabbed his wrist.

“Oh no, you’re not leaving. You haven’t even met my family yet.” She pulled him back into the living room and shut the door. “I was having trouble finding my broom earlier. I turned the room upside down to find it. Then my family came and I just ran out with Lena and Ratface.” Gladstone followed Magica through her hut, careful not to step on anything to a door.

“You can borrow Lena’s room while you’re staying here.” Magica opened the door and revealed Lena’s room. The bed was made and covered in pastel pinks and grey sheets and blankets. There were no painted walls, but instead tapestries of pink and grey magical and spiritual signs that had skulls and ravens on it. On her desk laid a pile of opened books stacking each other along with magic tools and memorabilia. Next to the desk was an open window that showed the sun setting.

“I never knew a room could be cute and gothic.” Gladstone set down his luggage and turned to Magica.

“My room is right across from yours.”

“Makes me wonder what your room is like.”

“You don’t want to know.” Just then a gust of wind blew through Lena’s bedroom window and blew open Magica’s bedroom door.

 _“Merda!”_ Magica cursed. But before she could close it, Gladstone quickly ran into her bedroom.

"Wow, I thought you were the type to keep everything organized.” Gladstone's mouth dropped. His eyes laid upon Magica’s room. Her purple and blacks sheets and blankets were unmade. There were scattered black and purple dresses and shows on the floor. Along with some books, scrolls, snack wrappers, and even some bunched up tissues. Magica comes in and closes his beak with two of her fingers.

“I am, this is an organized mess. It’s rude for visitors to go into other people’s room without their permission.” Magica said. “It’s not like I have people living in my room beside me.” Gladstone picks up a book that caught his eye. It was a brown and black book, he flipped through the pages, seeing spells on transformation and transfiguration that looked a little bit more complicated.

“Anything caught your eye?”

“Just this book, and trying to make sure you’re not trying anything funny to get the dime.”

“For the last time Gander, I can’t plan any dime heists right now.” Magica sighed. “I need to plan out our dates.” she looked away from him. Gladstone could’ve sworn that her cheek was a bit pink. “We need to trust each other in order to sell this farce to my family.”

“It’s going to be hard considering what happened.” Gladstone said in a calm neutral tone. “But I’ll try my best to be your fake boyfriend.” There was an awkward silence between the two for a bit. Magica turned back to Gladstone, who looked as if she was going to say something but hesitated. Gladstone decided to break the silence.

“Well it’s small, but it’s cozy and despite the mess the mess, it looks like this place isn’t too bad after all.” He unwittingly sat on Magica’s bed. Suddenly there was a creaking noise and then CRASH! The bed broke and fell with Gladstone in it. Gladstone felt sore in his neck and back. “You know what, I stand corrected.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, Gladstone and Magica get to interact. And because of the contract, they HAVE to do PDA. Haha, can't wait for that. As for Scrooge, that will hopefully become a little one-shot fic I write in the future. I I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
> 
> Thank you so much for being patient. I know you all are dying to see this progress. I was a bit busy with my other fanfic "The Momumental Dime Chase", which features my OCs who are Magicstone's kids. Check it out if you're interested.


	4. The Setup

Lying down in the remains of what used to be Magica’s bed, a lumpy mattress with stiff rods of the bed frame that poked his body in the worse places. Gladstone felt tremendous pain in his back, neck, and shoulders.

 “I can’t believe you broke my bed!” Gladstone could’ve sworn Magica had steam coming out of her head.

 “Sorry, I didn’t mean to break it. But your bed felt so shoddy, it felt like it would’ve broken the next time you slept on it.” Gladstone retorted back, returning her an angry look.

 “That’s because you didn’t enter the bed the correct way.” Magica sighed. “You have to be gentle with it. And on the right side here you carefully shift your wei-”

 “Oh my god, you’re worse than my uncle.” Gladstone laughed and shook his head as he stood up from the lumpy broken bed. “I thought no one could be any more frugal than him. You were trying to save that bed as long as you could.” he laughed a bit smugly.

 “Hey, don’t change the subject!” Magica said. “Ugh, this is great. I now have no bed to sleep on.” She pinched her brows. Gladstone sighed and stopped smiling.

 “Hey, look I’m sorry about that. I’ll fix this.” Gladstone closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and was silent for a few seconds, then opened his eyes again. “Okay, it’s done. I don’t know how long it’ll take but, it’ll be fixed.” Magica still frowned and raised an eyebrow.

 “Okay, whatever.” She shook her head. “I still need to clean this place up. And you’re going to help me.” Gladstone’s eyes widened with shock. “Oh come on, this is the least you could do in addition to breaking my bed beyond repair.”

 Magica’s living room now only looked like a light tornado came in for a bit. The house was starting to look nice again after the two started cleaning. Magica was busy tidying up her magic workstation. Gladstone was busy picking up miscellaneous objects he found on the floor, spell and potion books, scrolls, and magical artifacts. He picked up everything he could find and it stacked into a high tower that he carried and was way above his head.

 “Hey! You better with not dropping any of those!” She said noticing how much higher his magical items tower got since the last time she checked in on him. “And why are you even carrying that much?”

 “Don’t worry, I got a system.” Gladstone strained as he tried to keep his balance with the tower and his legs. He used his feet to toss the last scroll onto the top of his tower. Magica’s eyes widened. Gladstone closed his eyes and took a deep breath, he walked around the living room, until he tripped and fell. All of the items came falling down, but into their respective places. Books were either thrown into the bookshelf or on top of it, scrolls managed to fall into their empty cubbies, and the magical artifacts landed on a desk next to Magica’s cauldron. Magica jumped and caught off guard by the falling objects. She took a closer peek at the magical artifacts.

 “They’re intact?” She turned her head to Gladstone. “H-how did you do that?”

 “I wished my luck for everything I carried to fall back into their place to finish cleaning up faster.”

 “Nice that you that you did that but,” Magica handed him her broom. “you’ll need to help sweep up the floors and trash.”

 “But I just put away everything.” He pouted and reluctantly grabbed the broom and started sweeping up the floors. He eventually got to a corner of the room where there was a pile of bunched up tissues. “Do you live with trash on your floor?”

 “No, that was from when I rejected my childhood friend’s wedding proposal earlier today.” Magica sighed. “I told him about my long distance, long-term boyfriend, and ran away.”

 “Wow, you’re really the type to never let anyone down gently.” Gladstone swept up a pile of dirt and dust to the pile of used up tissues. His words hit Magica, she took a deep breath and explained calmly.

 “Well, the problem is when I did use to let him down gently, his infatuation with me didn’t stop.” She sighed heavily. “I’ve been turning him down since we were preteens. After all these decades, he doesn’t understand what no means. He’s relentless.” Magica pointed her finger at Gladstone. “That’s why you need to be the best damn convincing long-term boyfriend that will break his heart!” Gladstone swore that she saw the fire fueled by her conviction in her eyes.

 “Whoa, okay. Got it. Be good enough to break his heart, and let him deal with the heartbreak worth of decades pining after you.” Gladstone said.

 “I know I didn’t let you down gently after what happened last time, and it may seem to mean to do this but trust me, this will probably be the only thing to convince him.”

Gladstone took a deep breath and decided to keep down his sour feelings. “So what kind of dates are we looking at for the week?” he asked in a normal non-menacing tone.

 “Well, I was thinking of a traditional dinner date, a picnic, and maybe a bar. I didn’t think far ahead, but you’re welcome to add in any other ideas.” Magica said leaning against the desk.

 “I was thinking we take it a step further. Go to the beach, dance, sightsee, see fireworks, and go shopping.”

 “Shopping? Seriously?”

 “Yes, I shop for the most gorgeous dresses, jewels, and other gifts and end with another nice dinner or whatever. It’s a nice parting gift before we part as a long distance couple.” Gladstone said and acted dramatically by putting his backhand on his forehead. Magica chuckles a bit, which elicited a small smile from Gladstone. Which went away quickly. He took a deep breath and looked at her.

“Okay we need to address the elephant in the room,” he paused “so how are we going to do the kissing thing? Do I just do it randomly, all the time and have my hands all over you or what?”

“Oh my god, no, no, no.” Magica shook her head. “I know when my niece said that we Italians are big on PDA, but not like that.” she sighed. “As for holding hands, linking arms, just do that frequently in public, you don’t need to have your hands all over me.” Magica went over to join Gladstone on the couch.

“What we should do is create a discrete signal that no one will notice when we need to kiss.” She grabbed Gladstone’s hand, he felt his face get a bit warm and his heart rate sped up. “Like when we’re holding each other’s hand or arm, we just make a stroking motion with our index finger to indicate we need to kiss. And we don’t kiss unless we feel the other person returning the same motion.” Magica demonstrated the motion. Gladstone felt his heart beating hard and his forehead sweating.

“G-g-gotit!” Gladstone said in a broken high pitched voice.

“Gladstone, I’m going to need you to go all in and not be nervous. Granny and Rosolio will find something fishy if you’re hesitant.” Magica sighed, took her hand away from his, and turned away her head. “You need to kiss with passion as if I was your girlfriend.” Gladstone could’ve sworn her face turned a little pink. “So you better swear you’ll confidently kiss me or I will hex you!” Gladstone grabbed her hand, Magica turned her head, her heart beating face and her face flushed.

 “I swear I will be the most confident boyfriend!” Gladstone said. Magica’s face turned into a deeper shade of red. “Just please don’t hex me,” he said meekly. Magica’s face and heart rate quickly went back to normal.

 “Fine. Anymore questions?” She asked. Gladstone paused for a second, took a deep breath.

 “Do we have to use tongue?”

 “Oh my god!” Magica buried her face in her hand, covering her blushing face. “No, no. Only a young couple who think they’re alone would only make out in a public place.” Magica raised her head, which is finally back to normal, and looked at Gladstone. “Unless there’s an emergency, we’re _NOT_ going that far. Clear?”

 “Crystal.” Gladstone took her hand. “Should we practice, so we’re ready?”

 “Wait, the signal or the kissing?” Magica asked she felt sweat forming around her forehead.

 “Maybe both? Maybe the more we kiss the less awkward it’ll get?” he laughed nervously. Magica face blushed again.

 “W-w-well, I guess it wouldn’t hurt to. We’re going to have to do it eventually.” Gladstone grabbed Magica’s hand and stroked it with his index finger, Magica returned the signal. They looked at each other hesitantly, closed their eyes, and slowly leaned in towards each other. Body temperatures rising were rising within one another. Even though they both couldn’t see, they were confident each other’s faces were blushing. The room almost fell completely silent, if it wasn’t for the two’s hearts racing with nerves. They puckered their lips, knowing there is going to be an awkwardness to come afterwards. Their distance became closer and closer. They could feel each other’s breath on their face.  

 KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

 “Hello, Gladstone Gander! Special delivery!” Magica and Gladstone jumped. Their faces are now far apart, but still holding each other’s hands.

 “Whatisthat?!” Magica used her other hand to put on her chest to hopefully calm her still racing heart.

 “Oh, it must be for you. HereIgotit!” Gladstone got up and went to get the door. Magica felt the absence of his warm hand.

  _“Thank Hades for the interruption. I don’t know if we’ll be able to pull this off if we’re this nervous around each other.”_ she thought.

 “Yeah, I can show you the room. The current bed is broken so…”

 “That’s no trouble at all. We can take that heap of junk free of charge. That service is included with us delivering and setting up your prize.” The dog delivery man said and turned his head away from Gladstone. “Come on Virgilio, and help me out here!” An Ox delivery man came in, Gladstone showed the two to Magica’s room. After a short time, they went out carrying the bed parts and mattress. Gladstone returned back to the couch where Magica was sitting.

 “Wh-what is all this?”

 “ _This_ is for making up for breaking your bed earlier. I told you I would fix it.”

 “I didn’t think this is how it would work. But how?”

 “I wished for it.” Gladstone said smugly.

 Magica paused for a bit and remembered when Gladstone took a deep breath in her room. “Okay, that makes sense what you were doing earlier but, how in the world were you able to win that?”

 “I entered a raffle for a random prize at the airport, and won.”

 “That’s awfully convenient.” Magica said feeling a bit dumbfounded.

 “Convenient for you to finally have a decent bed.” The dog delivery man went up to the couple on the couch.

 “Okay, me and Virgilio finished installing everything. You two should be fine and be able to sleep tonight. Don’t know how you two were able to on the piece of junk we got.” Gladstone and Magica blushed. The dog delivery man handed Gladstone a clipboard and pen. “I’m just going to need you to sign here.”

 “Well, it was about time we get a new one. Thanks again for setting it up.” Gladstone said nervously laughing while signing the document.

 “Not a problem. You two kids enjoy that new bed.” The dog delivery man laughed a bit on the way out before closing the door. Magica buried her blushing head in her hands.

  _“Oh my god, if I can’t handle this teasing. This fake relationship is going to be a disaster from me being too embarrassed.”_

 “Hey Magica.” Magica lifted her head.

 “Huh?”

 “Don’t you want to check out your new bed? I don’t know if it’ll be to your liking.” Gladstone said. “If not, I can just wish for another one.” Magica shook her head.

 “I’m sure it’ll be fine.” Magica got up and went into her room to see a king sized bed with a black wooden headboard. “Wow, this is much bigger than my last one.” Magica pushed her hand on the unlined mattress. “Oh my gosh! This is one of those memory foam beds!” Magica immediately lied down on her bed kicking off her heels. She closed her eyes and felt her body mold into the mattress, feeling absolutely relaxed. Gladstone peeked his head through her doorway.

 “So, do you like it?” Gladstone didn’t hear any answer. “Magica?” He waited for a reply. “Magicaaa?” He walked into the room and saw that she was napping on the bed. “Well, I guess that answers it.” He walked out of the room quietly and gently closed her door. He breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness I won’t be hexed. Maybe she’ll be less cranky with some better sleep.”

  _Grrgl Grrgl Grrgl._ Gladstone heard his stomach growling and and felt famished. “Well guess I’ll look for something to eat. If we’re living together, I’m sure she shouldn’t mind me going through her pantry.” He said walking into her kitchen and opening up an almost bare pantry. “Okay, I’m going to have to whip something up. Oh wait, she has that garden outside!” He walked out and saw the two gardens, one that was mostly well tended, and the other that was overgrown.

 “Okay, one of these gardens are getting more love than the other.” He looked around and grabbed some cutters and went to the overgrown garden which grew vegetables. “You’d think she would place food over her witch herb garden. Well, that’s okay little pals, I’ll prune you and make you better.” Gladstone started pruning one of the plants and noticed there were big ripe red tomatoes. “Oh, you’re ready.” He picked them and put them to the side.

 “Hmph, what kind of person doesn’t tend to both gardens?” Gladstone said while pruning. “Then again, I don’t know much about her besides her personality from the time I spent with her before.” When he finished pruning, he saw more beautiful almost ripe tomatoes in all sorts of colors and shapes. There were some that that looked like bigger versions of blueberries, one that was bright red and in the shape of a flower, another one that looked like a small and plump yellow and orange sausage, and the last one was a yellow tomato that had pink in the center. “These are beautiful, I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’ll pick a few and use them to eat.” Gladstone looked around and found a basket to put the tomatoes into. “If she’s like this garden, I guess there’s more to her than I thought.”

* * *

_Flashback to many years ago_

 “Ugh...this is so hard.” a young and high feminine voice said.

 “This is hopeless. We’re going to fail the make up a test for transfiguration.” Another young high voice said. Two ducks were standing up in an empty classroom at the lecturing desk. A small golem went to grab another acorn and placed it in front of the two ducks.

 “No, we’re not going to fail on it Rosolio. We can’t.” Magica said. She rolled her up to her black short sleeves on her dress. “We’re going to make up for the test, we’re going to ace this class, and show up those two annoying girls!” Young Rosolio sighed.

 “Okay, let me try again.” Rosolio raised his wand and concentrated on the acorn. “Ando libre axi nock, let this acorn form into rock.” The acorn eventually changed form and turned into a small round rock.

 “Great Rosolio! Now do the next step!” Magica cheered.

 “Dixi maxi ullum trot, turn from a rock into a teapot.” Rosolio waved his wand again, the rock form was changing, but it did not immediately transform like before. The rock kept stretching, almost forming into a teapot, and but unfortunately turned into a grey silly putty. Rosolio sighed from his attempt. “I can do the first transformation somehow but can’t do the second one.” He sighed. “Magica this is hard. I don’t even know what I’m doing half of the time.” Magica pondered for a bit. “You haven’t even done the first transfiguration yet.” Magica’s eyes widened and gestured the small golem to grab another acorn from the pile. “We might as well just become one of those hobo witches that live in the forest who can’t do anything.”

“We won’t have to become hobo witches. I have an idea.” Magica turned him towards the acorn on the desk. Rosolio sighed. “Don’t worry, Rosolio, you’re almost there. Now do the first transfiguration spell again.” Rosolio recited the same spell, and the acorn turned into a small rock.

“Now before you do the next one, I want you to breathe, don’t overthink this one. Just imagine rearranging the elements of the rock and the environment of its’ surroundings to create the teapot.” Rosolio took a deep breath and recited the spell again. The rock started to stretch itself in various shapes for a little while but eventually turned into a crudely made clay tea pot.

"You did it Rosolio!” Magica cheered. Rosolio broke out in the biggest smile and jumped repeatedly.

“I did it, I did it!”

“Okay let me try!” Magica said and motioned the golem to get another acorn for her. She recited the spell, and the acorn turned into a rock. She recited the second spell, and the rock turned into a smoother clay teapot.

“Alright!!” Rosolio cheered and jumped up and down. Magica joined in with jumping.

“Haha! We’re ready to make up that test!” Magica stopped jumping up and down and leaned on the desk to catch her breath.

“How did you know to how to improve the spell?”

“I noticed that by the time you did you second transfiguration, your magical aura was a bit off. You were over concentrating on your magic. I thought if you’d relax and simplify it, then it would work.”

“That’s amazing! You’re super smart Magica!”

“Haha, yeah, yeah. I’m smart.” She said confidently but regained her composure. “But only because I remembered my Granny telling me there are different ways of doing the same magic. That was her way of doing transfiguration, so thought we might as well try something different.”

“Well it worked, and we still have some time left. I’ll buy you some _sfogliatella_ on the way home. Thanks again Magica. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“It’s no problem Rosolio. That’s what friends are for.”

* * *

She slowly started to notice her her body rolling around on what felt like a dense and soft cloud. Magica slowly opened her eyes and found herself back in her room.

 _“It was just a dream. I forgot how I used to help him a lot even though we were both floundering through our magic classes.”_ She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. _“Unfortunately we can’t be friends.”_ she let out a big sigh.

 _"I wish we could go back to how we were then.”_ She turned to her side to see her clock on her bedside table read 7:00 PM.

 _"I do **NOT** want to get out of bed it feels so good.”_ Magica then felt hunger pains in her stomach. _“Ugh...fine.”_ She rolled herself out of bed, turned on the lights, and looked for her shoes. When Magica opened her bedroom door to the scent of something delicious, savory, and something with garlic She was starting to salivate and her hunger pains increased a bit. She walked into the kitchen to see Gladstone sprinkling on parsley onto a big pan of spaghetti.

“There, that should do it.” Gladstone put his hands on his hips, admiring his work.

“That smells good.” Magica said. Gladstone turned around.

“You’re up, good, I was getting hungry and made some dinner with whatever you had lying around in your garden and pantry.” Gladstone grabbed a couple of plates and started serving them. “I hope you didn’t mind I used up all your pantry, but there wasn’t much in there, to begin with except for that can of anchovies.”

“It’s okay, I really need to stock up on more food, eventually.”

“Well it’s nice you also have your garden. But it needs some pruning and tending to. I can help with that if want it. I already pruned the tomatoes.”

“Why would you do that?” Magica grabbed a couple of glasses and filled them with water.

“Honestly, despite all the work, I like gardening. It’s calming and refreshing.”

“No, not only that but, why be nice to me with all this?” Magica grabbed some silverware and set up the table.

“Well one, you asked for help in the first place for your fake out farce. Two, your garden told me there’s more to you than the heartbreaker I knew. So might as well get to know more about you and your situation with Rosolio.” Gladstone said as placed the served plates on the table.

“Over dinner? Sounds like our fake dates are starting.” Magica joked and sat down. Her eyes widened at the pasta in front of her. “Did you use every tomato in my garden?”

“No, just only grabbed one color of each tomato. They looked interesting I decided to pick them for the food.” Gladstone said. He rolled up a bunch of spaghetti noodles and ate them. “Huh, not half bad with what I made.” Magica looked back at her own plate and sighed internally. She was hungry, she wasn’t going to argue how weird the pasta looked. She rolled up spaghetti noodles and took a bite. She felt her taste buds tingle and her stomach feel satisfaction.

“This is really good puttanesca. Despite how weird it looks with the colorful tomatoes, it tastes delicious.”

“Wait, what did I make?”

“Puttanesca. Although, it’s not with colorful tomatoes. You made a variant, which I guess is rainbow puttanesca.”

“Didn’t realize that I just threw a bunch of shit together.”

“That’s pretty much puttanesca is. Throwing in random shit and get good food.”

“Huh, that’s pretty much how I cook back home.”

“You cook, why? You always won a lot of free food raffles back in Duckburg.”

“Yeah, but sometimes once in a while, I’ll cook food. I found it’s just as enjoyable as gardening. I just usually throw random ingredients together. Sometimes it tastes weird but not bad.”

“I’m surprised, the great, carefree, lazy, Gladstone does like work.”

“Only work that I enjoy.” Gladstone said smugly. “And don’t you dare tell anyone about it.”

“I don’t think anyone will believe me if I did, but why?”

“It just feels weird when people know I put effort into some things or when they do, they’ll want to use me for stuff they want to do. And if you do...”

“You’ll do what?”

“I...don’t know, I was hoping to come up with something on the spot, but couldn’t.”

“Hmm, well no matter, I’ll keep your secret safe.”

“Okay, enough about me, tell me about you and Rosolio.”

“Huh?” Magica said mid-eating the pasta.

“Like how can a guy fall in love with you for decades? What attracted him in the first place? Why hasn’t he stopped?”

“It’s a long story.”

“I’m up for it. Besides, best to know a lot of info about my fake girlfriend, to prove I’m the long term, long distanced, fake boyfriend.” Magica smiled.

“I don’t know how, but infatuation is a powerful emotion apparently. I don’t get what exactly attracted him in the first place, because he wasn’t all puppy-love dog eyes when we were kids. I do know my granny has been bugging him to marry me when we were young. I think once we went through puberty, it just made his crush on me worse.” Magica laughed and looked at her empty plate sadly. “Shame, he was such a good friend too.”

“What was he like as a friend?”

“We were, you say, the misfits in our class. We struggled with our magical abilities. He had innate magical talent but sometimes didn’t understand how to use it. Me, I wasn’t born with magic and had to learn how to conjure it up in my own way. When we helped each other out, we would be able to learn and find other ways on how to use magic.”

“Huh, thought magic comes easily, especially when you inherit it.”

“Not always. Some people who have innate magical talent can easily use it, some don’t. It varies sometimes.”

“So how did you and Rosolio help each other out?”

“Well, there was this one time we both failed a test to transfigure objects….”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all of y'all kind reviews! I'm glad you all are enjoying it and looking forward to the rest of the story. I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to reply to any of y'all but thank you again for the kind reviews. I'm new on AO3, so I'll try to be more responsive next time.
> 
> Also, I swear, every time I write an outline for these chapters when I write a draft, it becomes much bigger in reality. Then again, I have a lot to set up, old memories of Rosolio and Magica, and where Gladstone and Magica stand since their Matilda incident.
> 
> This was originally was supposed to contain the first fake date, but that's going to be for the next chapter. The bright side is, there's an outline, and all I have to do is write up a draft.


	5. Monday Date: Picnic

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gladstone and Magica go on their first date as a fake couple, but will they be able to fool Granny De Spell and Rosolio and not fall in love with each other's fake flirting?

It was a warm, nice day in the park filled with talk and laughter and kids running around. People are picnicking with their families, friends, and lovers.

“This is a nice place.” Gladstone said while helping Magica set up the picnic blanket.

“I used to come here a lot for picnics when I was younger. It’s been a while.” She smoothed out the creases in the corner of the blanket. Magica sat with her back against the tree trunk they were underneath. Gladstone kneeled down and looked at her, wearing a black sundress with outlines of purple flowers that popped. Magica noticed his look. “Is there something on my face?”

“No, no.” Gladstone shook his head. “I just realized I don’t have you as my background on my phone.” He took out his phone.

Magica raised her eyebrow. “Is that really necessary?”

“For couples yes, it is. Now just stay like that, turn your head a little to the sid-” Magica snatched his phone out of his hands. “Hey wait!” Magica wasted in no time in taking a half blurry selfie of herself. Not smiling, but not quite frowning.

“There. That should be good enough.” She threw the phone back at him.

“But the aesthetics!”

“I’m not taking another one.”

Gladstone shook his head. “Fine, if that’s how you want. Take a picture of me next.” Gladstone said with the smuggest grin, raising an eyebrow, giving his head a slight turn, and posing what was almost seductive like. Magica was unimpressed by his pose.

“I don’t have a phone.” She said as she started to take out the Tupperware from the picnic basket.

“Wait what?” Gladstone pulled out of the pose. “We need to get you a phone asap after we finish our picnic.”

“I already have a lot to pay for Lena’s. And I’ve been fine without using one for years.”

“But how are you going to explain how we communicate long distance to your family?”

“Well, we could say that because of your love combined with your luck you win weekly or bi-weekly trips to Italy from your raffles and contests you enter to visit me frequently.”

“Oh yeah, that’ll work.” Gladstone chuckled nervously.  _ “Even though that does happen frequently.” _ He thought remembering the special pile of Italian vacation mail, specifically to Mt. Vesuvius, in his house. He quickly grabbed the wine and poured himself a drink.

Bzzzzz.

Until he heard a buzzing noise, Gladstone looked up and saw a drone right above them. “What the?”

“Hi, Gladstone.” A familiar voice appeared. Gladstone stopped looking at the drone and saw his cousin Donald with Ratface resting on his shoulder.

“Heya cuz.” Gladstone replied back cheerfully.

“What’re you two doing here?” Magica asked.

“Lena suggested we take it easy today and have a picnic.” Ratface replied gesturing his beak to the group of kids on the other side of the park. Huey was busy with playing with the controls of his drone, Dewey was lying down watching the drone footage on Huey’s laptop. Webby was climbing a tree and Lena was trying to follow after her, albeit unsuccessfully.

“Webby I can’t climb that.” Lena said. Webby swung upside down from the branch and held out her arms.

“That’s okay, I can swing you up here.” She said cheerfully.

“Webs, I can tell this isn’t a good idea.”

“Look I’ll help you up.” Louie said cupping his hand. Lena looked at him. “You have to step on my hands to climb the tree.” He said in a matter-of-factly tone. Lena turned to look at Webby, who was giving the most pleading puppy eyes ever and sighed. She placed her foot in Louie’s hand and climbed up the bark of the tree. Louie tried to lift her up but started to become unstable holding her up, she was a bit heavier than he thought. Lena started wobbling, feeling she was going to lose her balance, her heart started to race. Until Webby rushed in to grab Lena’s hands and swung her up on the branch of the tree. Louie fell to the ground. Lena felt the adrenaline rush and tried to catch her breath.

“Whoa, Lena are you okay?” Webby asked and swung herself into an upright position sitting on the thick tree branch next to her.

“I-I’m fine. Just a little started by that.”

“You don’t have to worry Lena, you’ll always be safe with me!” Webby said smiling. Lena’s heart filled with glee and calm. She started to blush a little. Louie saw the interaction and gestured to Dewey what was going on.

“Ooh! Huey look I spotted two lovebirds!” Dewey said.

“Oooh! Quick, hurry! Catch them on your drone camera before they fly away!” Louie said.

“Guys, a bit busy here.” Huey said concentrating on the drone. Lena became flustered and blushed hard. Webby was caught off guard.

“Wait, wha-” Webby was cut off.

“Lena and Webby sitting in a tree!” Louie and Dewey sang together. “K-I-S-S-I-N-Geeoof!” They were interrupted by suspicious oranges with a hot pink aura that hit them in the head. Lena stared down at the two boys hard as she telepathically grabbed more oranges and ready to start throwing them.

“Uh oh.” Both Dewey and Louie said.

“Yeah, and it was one of the few places that Huey can take out his drone for his next Junior Woodchuck badge.” Donald said pointing to the drone in the sky. In the distance, the adult group could hear screams and turned to see a blur of hot pink balls being thrown in the distance.

“Huh, guess my niece is keeping up with her levitation practice while I’m gone.” Magica said taking a sip of her wine.

“Umm...should we?” Ratface asked Donald.

“Eh, they’ll be fine with Lena and Webby.” Donald shrugged. “Anyways, we wanted to ask you how the ruse is going so far.”

“Oh yes, did Rosolio and Granny finally relent?” Ratface asked.

“No, we haven’t met them yet. Granny said they’ll pop on by soon.” Magica said.

“How are you doing Gladstone? Everything fine?” Donald asked.

“Yeah, I’m mostly fine. I did get hurt yesterday after I broke Magica’s bed but, I’m feeling much better now. Hehe.” Gladstone chuckled until he saw Donald and Ratface give him the most disapproving looks ever. Gladstone suddenly felt small and intimidated.

“Not like that you fools!” Magica yelled, startling Donald and Ratface. “My old bed finally broke when he sat on it.”

“Oh.” Ratface said. “I was wondering when that piece of junk was going to break down.”

In the distance, someone sneezed and yelled “OH MY GOSH! FIRE!”

“Oh looks like Rosolio is here already. I didn’t know I dropped one of my feathers.” Ratface said.

“If you do run into them, please feel free to imply that I am sleeping with my fake boyfriend to my Granny.”

“Seriously?!” Gladstone yelled blushing.

“I’m playing hardball here. It’s either play this relationship hard or go home.” Magica sipped her glass of wine. Gladstone buried his face in his hands to hide his embarrassment.

“Well, we’ll try to do that but, we need to get going.” Ratface said. “Good luck mistress.”

“Thanks, Ratface.”

Ratface and Donald walked back to their picnicking spot where they saw Huey trying to multitask eating a slice of orange while piloting his drone, Lena and Webby sharing an orange up in the tree, and a pile of oranges with Louie and Dewey buried underneath it.

“Ugh, I’m starving.” Magica said as she was about to grab one of the Tupperware. Gladstone held up a strawberry near her face.

“Here, have this.” Magica was about to grab the strawberry from his hand until he pulled it away from her.

“Hey?” Magica was confused by Gladstone’s gesture.

“No, let me feed it to you.” Gladstone said blushing a light shade of pink. “It’s the romantic thing for couples to do, right?” Magica blinked a few times and also blushed a light shade of pink.

“Right.” She leaned in and grabbed the strawberry with her mouth and turned up to look at him. He chuckled a bit.

“Whaff soff funneh?” Magica said with the strawberry in her mouth.

“You look a little ridiculous.” Gladstone said laughing a little, he took out his phone and took a photo of her. “It’s kinda cute.” He showed her the picture. Magica blushed a bit more and ate the strawberry. She returned him a sly smile.

“Oh really, let’s see how ridiculous you look with it.” Magica held up a strawberry to Gladstone’s face. Gladstone grabs the strawberry from her fingers and looks at her with a smile and one eyebrow raised. It looked a bit well…ridiculous. Magica started to laugh.

“Oh my gosh, what kind of face is this?” She quickly grabbed Gladstone’s phone and took a picture of him. Gladstone ate the strawberry.

“ _ That _ is supposed to be the seductive face of your boyfriend.” Gladstone huffed.

“Oh yeah, _ real seductive  _ there Casanova.” Magica laughed. Gladstone looked at his picture, shook his head, and began to laugh.

“Okay, okay I can see what you mean. Here,” Gladstone scooted closer to Magica and wrapped his arm holding the phone around her neck. Magica started to blush and welcomed feeling the warmth and weight of his arm.

“Let’s take a picture of feeding each other and being the most attractive lovers.” He said with a sly smile. Magica couldn’t hold back her feelings as soon as she saw his smile, she was happy, flustered, and annoyed, in a good way. Even if this relationship is fake, she wanted to enjoy it, the relationship she wanted with this gander. She smiled back and held up a strawberry to his mouth. Gladstone used his free hand did the same. Gladstone started taking multiple pictures of them grabbing the strawberries with their mouths. He then gestured Magica to look at the camera. She turned and saw their awkward faces and couldn’t help but start laughing. It resulted in Gladstone laughing back. She leaned her head against his, laughing while he was taking the pictures. They eventually ate theirs and kept laughing.

“Glad to see my bambina taking photos of her indecency.”

“Oh, hi Granny. Hi Rosolio.” Magica said sheepishly. She got up and hugged and kissed Granny. Rosolio froze like a statue holding a pink box. Gladstone got up and stood next to Magica. “This is my boyfriend, Gladstone Gander.”

“Nice to meet the woman who raised Madge when she was young. You look more like her sister than her grandmother. ” Gladstone smiled trying to charm the eldest De Spell.

“How nice to meet the man who stole my bambina away.” She was not impressed.

Magica laughed it off. “Oh Granny, he didn't steal me away. I fell in love with him, on purpose. And on my own free will. Unlike with some people.”

“Oh but dear, no there comes a time in every grandma’s life that she’s sad to see her bambina be taken by a man.”

_ “Oh my god, coming from you who’s been trying to push Rosolio on me since we were kids!” _ Magica thought.

Meanwhile, in Rosolio’s rushing thoughts occupied his mind.  _ “No, they couldn’t be serious. Granny told me Magica was testing me. But, the two of them earlier, feeding each other strawberries. No, no, I can’t give up on our relationship. But they looked so happy. Oh my gosh, what if I finally lose her? I don’t know what I’ll do without her. And oh my gosh her boyfriend is so better looking than me. How can she fall for a normal person outside of the magic community? What does he have that I don’t? Then again I don’t have a lot of things. Oh noo...I don’t want to be alone with these thoughts, I just want to go back to the way things were.” _

Granny elbowed Rosolio, snapping him out of his daze. “Come on dear, you need to give it to them.” she whispered. Rosolio woke up from the pain from the side of his belly and shook off the runaway train wreck of thoughts. And held up a pink box to Magica.

“Hi Magica, I-I baked this cake for mainly for you. You can share it with your friend if you want but, I put a lot of hard work into this.” He said a bit nervously.

“Thanks, but we’ll pas-” Just as Magica was about to turn down Rosolio’s gift until Gladstone grabbed the pink box from Rosolio.

“Oh thank you. I heard a lot about you from Madge. We could share the cake right now and hear more stories from you about her in witch school.” Gladstone put his arm in one hand and offered a friendly handshake in the other. Rosolio looked at his hand and refused to shake it.

“Yes, I know a lot or the most about Magica. I’ve known her since we went to Wefora Academy when we were kids. I know her the best and the longest.” Rosolio said, slowly gaining some confidence.

_ “Yes, I’ll expose him. He’s just another temporary fling that roped Magica in and brainwashed her.” _ he thought.

“I mean if you’re coming to us and asking to share stories. Do  _ you even _ know everything about her? Sounds like your relationship is fake.” He asked, albeit smugly. Granny looked at Gladstone with piercing eyes and a smile.

_ “Oh my gosh, can’t these two give him a break!? There are so many things wrong with this right now.” _ Magica angrily thought. She was ready to lecture and defend Gladstone.

“Well, I know most of the basics of Magica and her history with both of you.” Magica didn’t have to defend him. Gladstone was ready to take on these two. “But that’s the best thing about our relationship.” Gladstone grabbed Magica’s hand. “We may not completely know everything about each other, but that’s the best part. I get to learn new, interesting, things about her every day, which reminds me why she was the woman I fell in love with.”

_ “Damn, he’s good.” _ Granny thought.

_ “Oh my god, he’s good! I can’t back down from this!” _ Rosolio thought.

_ “Oh thank Hades he’s a smooth talker.” _ Magica mentally sighed relief.

“Wel-wel-um. You see, you can’t be um,” Rosolio stammered, trying to find a way to frame Gladstone badly. A warm breeze blew and lightly shook the leaves of the tree above them. “a proper boyfriend without knowing everything. I mean, you just can’t.” What appeared to be a leaf falling was a black feather, slowly floating down in front of Rosolio’s face. “A person with a lot of history is the be-be-be” Rosolio’s allergies acted up. “Ah-Ah-AH-ACHOO!!” Rosolio sneezed fire in front of Gladstone.

“Ahhhh!” Gladstone screamed. He was caught off-guard, he dodged Rosolio’s fire sneeze but, dropped the pink box containing the cake, bugs and squirrels started to nibble on the contents that splattered outside of it. He somersaulted backward off past a row of bushes and off a cliff.

“Oh my god, Gladstone!” Magica said. She turned to Granny and Rosolio. “You both just  _ had  _ to be hard on my boyfriend! Seriously, he was excited to meet and trying to connect with both of you. Especially you Rosolio.” Rosolio felt her comment stab into him.

“Magica-” Rosolio said.

“No, I’m not going to stay here with my family who messes everything up for me. Not only is my house in danger from your raven allergies but also my boyfriend. Unbelievable.” Magica then ran off to the edge of the cliff where Gladstone fell.

“Hmph. She’s certainly got haughty, must be that boyfriend of hers that made her like this.” Granny folded her arms.

“Oh no, Granny I messed up badly this time. Not only did I sneeze her boyfriend off a cliff, but the cake is also ruined too.” Rosolio groaned. He buried his face in his hands. “I'm a horrible, incompetent friend.”

“Now, now, dear.” Granny De Spell put both of her hands on his arms to comfort him. “She was probably trying to make you feel jealous. It’s probably a test to see how dedicated your feelings are. Trust me, you need to be persistent. There’s no way she’s in love with her boyfriend. Remember,  _ true love _ conquers all.”

* * *

“Gladstone! Gladstone!” Magica yelled.  _ “Was there a cliff last time I was here? Where did he fall? I hope he’s okay.”  _ she thought frantically.

“Magica!”

_ “That voice.” _

“Gladstone! Where are you?!”

“Down here!” Magica stopped at the edge and looked down to see Gladstone down in a caved out hole in the ground.  _ “Oh thank god, the drop wasn’t as deep as I thought it was.” _

“You okay!?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. Don’t worry, my luck will protect and guide me to where I need to be.” He said dusting off his green jacket.

_ “I’ve never seen a caved out hole before. Wait, are those...?” _

“Umm...Gladstone?”

“Yes?”

“If it isn’t too much trouble,” Magica asked sheepishly. “Could you please pick that malignant weed down there?” she pointed at the lone weed across from Gladstone.

“Sure, but why?” Gladstone asked.

“Those are rare weeds that bloom only three hundred years. Rosolio accidentally picked all of mine from my garden.”

“Well if that’s so, I’ll make sure to get the roots of all of them.”

“All of them?”

“Yeah there are a bunch down here, I’ll make up for the ones that were picked.” Magica’s eyes glittered with glee.

* * *

After some time at the picnic area.

“Granny, it’s been a while. What if something happened to them? We should go che-” Rosolio stopped mid-sentence as soon as he saw Magica and Gladstone walking arm in arm, close to each other. Magica was holding a bunch of the malignant weed’s base, taking care that the roots and soil aren’t damaged too much.

_ “I haven’t seen her this happy in a long time. She’s not even yelling at him, despite both of them being messy. It’s like they’re walking down the aisle.”  _ Rosolio sighed.  _ “I know Granny says I’m being tested, but this is too much for me.” _

“Oh Gladstone, I can’t believe you found all these rare malignant weeds for me.” Magica said so sweetly, that it could cause diabetes. “You’re so sweet and good to me.” she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. Gladstone blushed at the sudden gesture.

“It’s no trouble at all my  _ ciao carissima _ .” Magica blushed back. Rosolio felt his body freeze up as he saw the couple flirting together as they approached their picnic area.

“Are you both okay?” Granny asked. “You’re both dirty, how dreadful.”

“It’s not dreadful at all Granny. Thanks to Gladstone, he found a bunch of malignant weeds that he’ll replant in my garden. This is the best bouquet I ever received.” Magica said with starry eyes staring at the weeds. Rosolio big sting of guilt and shame.

“Well, we need to wrap up the picnic and replant those weeds soon.” Gladstone packed up the Tupperware.

“We can continue the date at home, and have a private picnic in our own garden.” Magica said.

“We’ll see you both at the hut tonight for dinner?” Gladstone asked nicely picking up the picnic basket and blanket. “I mean, we didn’t get to talk much today.”

“Unfortunately, something’s come up. We’ll meet you two tomorrow.” Granny said.

“Bye Granny, bye Rosolio.” Magica said.

“Bye, nice meeting you both!” Gladstone said.

“Uh huh, likewise.” Granny said as she grabbed and guided Rosolio, who was out of it, away from the couple. When the two were out of earshot, Magica was giggling with glee.

“Heheheh, oh my gosh. That couldn’t have gone better.” Magica almost squealed.

“Really? Cause your granny and Rosolio don’t look too happy.” Gladstone said as they both walked to his car.

“Yeah, but I expected that anyways. They’ll just have to deal with the anger and hopefully stop at some point.” Magica said. “I really do have to thank you for this short date though.”

“Wait what?”

“Well yeah, honestly it wasn’t too bad, and now I have more rare weeds then I did before! Honestly, I would’ve kissed you for this, even if you weren’t my fake boyfriend.”

_ “Honestly, I really didn’t mind the kisses she gave.”  _ Gladstone thought. Gladstone blushed furiously and walked closer to Magica. And the two walked off satisfied to his car. The fake date may have been over, but a nice private gardening picnic date was waiting for them at Magica’s hut.

* * *

On the other side of the park.

“Hey Uncle Donald, Ratface, looks like their date ended early.” Huey took a quick peep at the laptop.

“That’s good, nothing bad happened. Especially after that sneeze.” Ratface breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank you again, young man.”

“You’re welcome. I do feel weird for spying on them with my drone but, I do get to go after my espionage badge. So getting two badges in one week isn’t bad.” Huey replied.

“It’ll take a lot more to break my cousin. His luck will save him from anything.”

Dewey and Louie finally got themselves out of the bottom of the orange pile. “Do you think our teasing plan worked?” Dewey whispered to Louie.

“Probably, at least they should be closer by now. So it was a success.” Louie whispered back.

“What’re you both whispering about?” Webby yelled from above. Still sitting on the tree branch with Lena, who was giving the two boys stern looks.

“Nothing!” They both yelled back.

“Umm...everyone, I think you should check this out.” Huey said pointing at the laptop screen of the drone footage. The drone was back at Magica’s and Gladstone picnic area, focusing on the smushed pink box with a cake that oozes outside. The interesting part was all the bugs and squirrels were suddenly pink, hugging each other, and didn’t attack one another.

“Oh no.” Ratface said.

“What’s wrong?” Donald asked.

“They couldn’t have resorted to doing that.” Ratface said. He cupped his wing underneath his beak. “If they are…”

“Are they both in danger?”

“I don’t want to jump to conclusions, but we should probably follow my mistress and Gladstone on their next date. I hope I’m wrong on what’s happening but, we should follow just in case.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for y'all patience! I've been pretty busy lately since I'm moving. Anyways, I found a groove for this fic and decided that I'll do my best to try and aim for a chapter a month (no promises in the future) as my personal goal for this fic. Which feels fair, because most of these chapters end up being over 10 pages long (I was intending this to be a 1000 words per chapter thing, but nothing ever goes planned in my writing). But I'm glad y'all are enjoying this fic. It makes me happy to see y'all's reactions to this.
> 
> A part of me was thinking of doing a bonus chapter in the future of Magica's and Gladstone's private garden picnic date at Magica's hut but don't know if I will (plus I really need to get this fic going to the fake dates). But just know, they had a really sweet time together.
> 
> And I hope y'all will like the next date chapter, cause they're going to the beach. That's right we're getting a beach episode y'all! Look forward to it!

**Author's Note:**

> -Rosolio's name actually means a sweet cordial made in Italy from alcohol, raisins, sugar, rose petals, cloves, and cinnamon. Which is similar to the chocolate liqueur candies. So that's why the girls want to turn him into chocolate filled candy.
> 
> -Rosolio's last name Rhododendron means a shrub with bell-shaped flowers, which is another one of the names the girls call him.
> 
> -Rosolio is also allergic to ravens, from the comic "Magica De Spell and The Great Rock of Power-Plus!"
> 
> Since I've gotten into the Ducktales comic, I wanted to give Rosolio a backstory since he didn't have one. Nor did he have much of a reason why he's infatuated with Magica. I wanted to explore it and eventually, it will be revealed through flashbacks on why he's the way he is. I hope y'all like it. I swear it will eventually become Magicstone.


End file.
